Those who know our family know that we take the art of traveling very seriously. As our kids leave home over the coming years and go out on their own, we want them to take with them great memories, and a lot of those memories go hand in hand with the trips we’ve taken. We’ve always loved travel, but it’s only in the last few years that we’ve discovered travel hacking through credit cards. From time to time we have friends who ask us how they can get started, so this page is where I’ll be updating my favorite credit cards that I use for travel hacking.
For each of these cards I’m including a link where you can learn more and apply if you’d like. You can of course go to the bank’s website to apply, but if you use this link, you get the same amount of points, plus I’ll get some points as well. So thanks in advance if you choose to do that!
Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you’re just getting started in the travel hacking game and are wondering which credit card you should get, my top recommendation is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you sign up with this link and spend $5000 during your first three months of receiving your card, you will receive 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards. Beyond that, on most purchases you’ll receive 1 point per every dollar spent, but some purchases give you more. For example, you’ll receive 3 points per every dollar spent on groceries and dining out. There is a $95 annual fee with this card.
I should point out that I also love the Chase Freedom Unlimited card (link). There’s no annual fee, and you get $300 after spending $500 during your first three months. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve), though, you can turn those dollars into points, and the great thing about this card is that every purchase gives you at least 1.5 points, whereas the minimum on the Sapphire is 1 point. I use this card for my everyday spend.
Here’s my recommendation for those who want to keep things simple. If you’re only going to have two credit cards, get the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Once you have 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, what can you spend them on? That’s the real question, right! You can book travel through the Chase Travel Portal. This is what we did when booking airfare to Switzerland. I go into details on how it works in that post. You can also transfer those points to partner airlines and hotel chains. My two favorites are Southwest and Hyatt. They transfer 1-to-1.
Here’s how you could do a hypothetical three night trip for two to Chicago. First, go to the Southwest website. I’m selecting Memphis for the departure city and Chicago (Midway) for the arrival city. March 13-16 looks promising. I’m willing to pay extra for nonstop flights, but that’s just me. Assuming that’s you as well, you can go round trip for 15,500 miles. For two of you that’s 31,000 miles plus $22.40 in fees.
That then leaves us with 44,000 Chase points. I next go to Hyatt’s website. I select Chicago, March 13-16, two guests, check “Use Points”, and select “Find Hotels.” The Hyatt Centric Magnificent Mile is a nice hotel the boys and I stayed at a number of years ago. It will cost you 42,000 points for three nights.
A three night spring weekend for two, and all it will cost you is your food, entertainment and train or Uber transportation. That’s my kind of trip!
In order to book a trip like this, you would go into the Chase Ultimate Rewards site and transfer that many points into your Southwest and Hyatt accounts. And then you would book them using the steps above.
Southwest
Speaking of Southwest, in my opinion the best travel hack is the Southwest Companion Pass. Whenever you fly on Southwest, your companion flies for free. And it doesn’t matter whether or not you are paying for your flight with cash or with points. How do you get the Companion Pass? As of this writing, you need to accumulate 135,000 points. The best way to do that is through the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards (link). The bonuses change throughout the year, and therefore the strategies change.
The easiest thing right now is to open both a personal card and a business card. Make the minimum spends on both and you’ll get the companion pass. The best strategy is to get it early in the year. That way you get it for that year plus the entire next year.
So back to the hypothetical trip to Chicago, instead of spending 31,000 Southwest points, I’d only be spending 15,500 thanks to the Companion Pass. Mandy and I switch up every two years. I should get it in a month or so, which means that I’ll have it for the remainder of 2026 plus all of 2027.
I have been playing this game for awhile now, and I’ve gotten pretty good. My strategy these days is to plan travel, and then figure out how how to at least get there for free. If we stay at hotels, we use points. If we stay at a vacation rental, we pay cash.
The key is to plan well in advance. A couple of examples…
We decided in September to go back to the Canadian Rockies this summer. Getting to Canada from Memphis is far from cheap. So Mandy opened up a Delta card, and after meeting the spending limit we were able to purchase four round trip tickets.
We also just decided to go back to Acadia this fall. Flights from Memphis to Maine are also not cheap. So I opened up an American Airlines card. Once I meet the minimum spend I’ll have enough to book those tickets.
Mandy and I have settled on trying to get 2-3 new credit cards (and bonuses) each year. I know people who go after more than this, but this seems to work out well for us. It’s a bit of work tracking the different points programs, but it’s worth it for the free travel we get each year. I use a Google Spreadsheet, but Award Wallet and the Points Guy app are also solid choices. I also use the app CardPointers. It tells me which card to use for a specific online purchase.
Finally, a word of caution…Travel hacking with credit cards only works when you stick to a budget and when you pay off your entire balance each month. If you are paying interest and late fees, it’s simply not worth it. Further, if you have trouble sticking to a budget, I don’t recommend it. Credit card debt more than just about anything else prevents us from building wealth, so make sure that you have a plan and are sticking to it.